Question

Notice how the interloper changes throughout the story “The Interlopers.” Find 2-3 different interlopers in the story and explain why they are considered interlopers.

Answer 1

In Saki’s “The Interlopers” the label “interloper” shifts meaning as the story moves from a human feud to a confrontation with nature. Three clear interlopers are:

1. The rival human
- Ulrich von Gradwitz and Georg Znaeym each view the other as the interloper: each believes the other is trespassing on the disputed strip of forest and on his family’s honor. Their whole feud is built on seeing the other as an unwanted intruder on territory and rights.

2. The fallen beech / the forest (nature)
- A great beech tree, uprooted by the stormy conditions, falls across both men and pins them together. Nature intrudes on their human conflict, physically preventing violence and forcing them into unexpected dialogue. Here the “interloper” is an impersonal force that interrupts human plans and reorders their priorities.

3. The wolves
- At the end the expected rescuers turn out to be a pack of wolves. These animals are the final, most literal interlopers—wild invaders of the scene who make the men’s reconciliation tragically irrelevant. They remind the reader that humans are not masters of the forest.

Together these shifts show Saki’s irony: the two men who spend their lives policing borders and accusing one another of intrusion are themselves vulnerable to larger, uncontrollable intruders—natural forces and wild animals—undermining human claims of ownership and control.